Abstract

The remote sensing group of the University of Hamburg is working on
HF radar since 1980. Based on 15 years of experience with CODAR, which the
University of Hamburg bought from NOAA (developed by D. Barrick), a new
system called WEllen RAdar (WERA) has been designed at the University of
Hamburg. The design aims to be as flexible as possible in order to allow easy
adjustment to different requirements, i.e. working range, spatial resolution
and antenna configurations.

The first part of this paper deals with the physics involved in HF radar
techniques, which includes the influence of working frequency, salinity and sea
state on working range, spatial resolution and interference.

The second part describes the technical solutions available to achieve
resolution in range and azimuth. Modulation techniques for range resolution
like Pulses and Frequency Modulation (FMCW) are compared, as well as
Direction Finding and Beam Forming for azimuthal resolution. A short
introduction in the algorithms needed is given.

The third part shows the components available from the WERA 'kit', to put
together an HF radar adopted to the requirements of the actual application.
Several compromizes must be met, e.g. between available ground and working
frequency restricting the antenna design.

This work has been funded by the European Commision DG XII within the
MAST-3 programme, project EuroROSE, CT98-0168.
Full Paper: